This is a historic poster in Nice. The Queensland Reds, the Australian team, are coming to challenge the rugby players from Nice on their own field. To properly prepare for the 2008/2009 season, the Nice team will meet this Wednesday at 7 PM, at the Arboras Stadium, with the legendary rugby players from the Queensland Reds in a friendly match. For the two coaches, the goal is different.
After two difficult seasons for the RNCA, the club wants to compete with the best to reposition itself at the highest level. The players will thus be able to face what the oval planet has to offer. For the public, the match is enticing. In fact, it is this exhibition aspect that the rugby club relies on to start its season.
The Nice players dream of victory, but they know that nothing is won yet and that it would even be a feat to topple these Australian giants. Christophe Moni, sports manager, is aware of it: “We have no particular pretension in this match”. For him, what matters is “the attitude of his players in the face of such a level”. Moreover, a specific training has even been established for the preparation of this match. A training that, according to Nicolas Szezur, the physical trainer, will be “purely physical and very short to have overcompensation on the day of the match”.
A tough season for the Queensland Reds
Indeed, the Queensland Reds are no longer in their former shape, but their reputation has not yet extinguished. Moreover, the season has been very challenging for the Australians who have not won any of the last three friendly matches and find themselves with several injured players. Some of the Australian internationals will be absent tomorrow night.
However, their captain, Morgan Turinui, selected 20 times for the Wallabies, the Australian national team, will indeed be present. For Phil Mooney, coach of the Queensland Reds: “Nice is a very good place to evolve. A place where rugby is an integral part of this European culture”. Whatever the result for both teams, what matters most to them is to test themselves, just a few days before the start of the upcoming new season. A real test match indeed!
This video is from the website Web TV Nice 
